


Meet The Gentlys

by SlytherinPirate



Category: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (TV 2016)
Genre: Established Relationship, Lots of other characters are mentioned - Freeform, M/M, Marriage, Pararibulitis (Dirk Gently), Pregnancy, but mostly fluffiness, dog OC - Freeform, not mpreg, slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-30
Updated: 2018-12-30
Packaged: 2019-09-30 16:26:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17227403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SlytherinPirate/pseuds/SlytherinPirate
Summary: Dirk and Todd have been together for quite a while, and they decide it's about time to move on to the next step.





	Meet The Gentlys

**Author's Note:**

  * For [flightinflame](https://archiveofourown.org/users/flightinflame/gifts).



> This is my gift for flightinflame for Dirk Gently's Holistic Gift Exchange! Also this is kinda meant to be within the same universe as her work, Love and Understanding (hence the dog with the same breed and name).

To say that Dirk’s life had settled down would be an overstatement. The detective agency ran about as smoothly as it ever did, what with ridiculous cases involving ghosts, invisible yet deadly seaweed, and the occasional hippopotamus. Yet somehow, amidst all the chaos, Dirk managed one thing he never thought he would: he got married. 

Dirk had been so confused when, on the five year anniversary of when they had started dating, Todd had dragged him back down to that pier where they had fought so long ago. The pier where Dirk thought he had lost his only friend. Oh, how wrong he had been. 

He had been confused while Todd explained that he wanted this pier to hold better memories for the two of them, that he wanted to turn a sour recollection into a wonderful one. He had been confused, until Todd got down on one knee. 

Not much wedding planning was done during their engagement period, as case after case after case seemed to be thrown at them. Though they did find the time to talk about names. Dirk was just about to explain to Todd that he didn’t want to get his name changed again _ ,  _ when Todd shrugged and said with a bashful smile that he was thinking of changing his last name to Gently. With the wondrous prospect of a Gently family-- Dirk, Todd, and let’s not forget their dog, a goofy beagle by the name of Lucky-- Dirk dived into his next case with newfound gusto and managed to solve it in record time. The efficiency had never been more arguable. 

They got married in the summer, right around Dirk’s birthday. Now Todd would have to get Dirk  _ two  _ presents this time of year, Dirk gloated. One for his birthday and one for their anniversary. Todd was more than happy to oblige. He already had trouble not buying Dirk little gifts every time he went out, anyways. 

The wedding was a small, yet rowdy affair. The guest list had consisted of the Rowdy 3 (more like six, including Amanda and Beast), Todd’s parents, Mona (of course), Farah (of course, of course), Hobbs, Tina, Lydia Spring, Panto Trost, Silas and Farson Dengdamor, and several others they had met along the way. These included the landlady of the Agency, as well as Dirk and Todd’s apartment above (a sweet older woman who dogsat for Lucky every time a case took them out of town), Lieutenant Michael Assistent (who had left Blackwing and had since gotten in touch with Dirk and become a good friend), Dr. Reese Mann (an ex-Blackwing doctor who, like Assistent, had since left Blackwing and gone on to redeem himself and befriend the Agency), and Keanu Reeves (their most recent client, something about vampires and a missing pocket watch). 

Mona played an important role, being the cushion that the rings were carried on. They tried to train Lucky to be the ring bearer, but the beagle kept running too fast, or getting distracted, or any number of things. They joked about swapping Lydia’s soul with Lucky’s and having her do it instead (she did not find this amusing), but in the end, Amanda ended up doing it. Wearing a black leather jacket over her sunshine yellow bridesmaid dress, and converse that matched the ones Todd was wearing, she sauntered down the aisle with Mona, and the rings, and presented them smugly to the two grooms as “two rings to rule them all.”

That was the point where the door at the back suddenly opened and Bart walked in, covered in blood but otherwise wearing a rather nice suit. 

All in all, it was a wedding fit only for Dirk and Todd, and they wouldn’t have had it any other way.

 

Dirk was reminiscing about his wedding, which had taken place almost a year ago by this point, as he and Todd were sitting on a park bench, drinking smoothies while on a stakeout for their latest case. 

“What are you so smiley about?” Todd asked, nudging Dirk playfully.

“Oh, nothing,” Dirk said with a shake of his head. “I’m just… happy.” He smiled at Todd, who returned a warm smile of his own.

“I’m glad.” Todd reached over to squeeze Dirk’s free left hand, lightly brushing over the ring that glittered on his finger. Todd’s hand lingered on Dirk’s as he looked back up at the park that surrounded them. Dirk looked over at him as he started chuckling.

“What is it?” Dirk asked, a smile playing at his lips.

“Look at them,” Todd replied, nodding to a mom who was playing frisbee with her son. Dirk looked over at them. Every time the mom would throw the frisbee, it would soar over the child’s head and he would make a ridiculous leap in order to try and get it. Then, every time the child threw the frisbee back, it would hit the mom somewhere, like her face or her stomach, but she would never catch it. Dirk started giggling as well as he watched them.

“At least they’re having fun,” he said.

“Yeah, looks like they’re having a lot of fun,” Todd agreed with a nod. They shared a glance, and in that glance they seemed to share a thought, as well. It was only fleeting, but it ignited a warm fire of potential in Dirk’s mind. Dirk was wrenched from his thoughts, however, as he got a hunch to look around. Sure enough, the flower shop owner they had been waiting for had just appeared.

“Todd, there!” He immediately got up from the bench, followed by Todd, who seemed to have been equally thrown by their shared idea just moments previous.

 

The case had been, comparatively, a mundane one. It turned out that the flower shop owner they had confronted in the park had planted (ha) a unique carnivorous plant in his rival (their client)’s shop, that ate other plants in order to try and deplete her inventory. Dirk had managed to sit both shop owners down so they could have a talk about their differences, which by the end, had resulted in the owners planning a dinner date for the following evening.

Feeling satisfied, Dirk and Todd headed back to their house-- yes, they had a  _ house  _ now, an actual house, and Dirk could still hardly believe it-- to settle in for a pizza and ice cream night to celebrate solving the case.

 

Having finished their ice cream, they lounged on the couch watching reruns of Brooklyn 99 and snuggling, and all the while Dirk’s thoughts remained on the thought they had shared earlier. Right when they finished their fourth episode of the night, Dirk lifted his head from where it rested on Todd’s shoulder to look at him.

“Todd… Can I talk to you for a moment?”

Todd turned the TV off before turning to give his full attention to Dirk.

“Of course, what’s up?” He furrowed his brow, curiously.

“That… look we shared, earlier. At the park. What we were both thinking… It wasn’t that we wanted to play frisbee, was it…” Dirk raised an eyebrow, his heart beating only slightly faster than normal.

Swallowing nervously, Todd shook his head.

“No, I, I don’t think it was.”

“Do you really think we could do it, Todd?” Dirk asked, sitting up a little straighter. “To be honest, I don’t know the first thing about… About, well, children.” The air hung heavy with the gravity of what they were discussing. This had the potential to be the most important conversation that they had ever had. It went right up there with, “Have you noticed an acceleration of strangeness in your life?” 

“Me either,” Todd said with a chuckle. He picked up both of Dirk’s hands and held them in his own. “But we could try and figure it out together, if you want…” 

Dirk smiled at him, impossible hope gleaming in his eyes.

“I never thought… It never even crossed my mind that I would ever be in a position to… to have a child.” He whispered the last part, like he couldn’t believe it.

“Do you want to?” Todd asked, searching Dirk’s eyes. In that moment, Dirk knew. He wanted everything with Todd, and that included this. 

“Yes,” he nodded, happy tears brimming in his eyes. “Y-Yes, I want this. I really do. Do… Do you want this, Todd?”

“Hell yeah, let’s do it!” Todd grinned. “We’ve done crazier shit than this.” At that moment, the blanket that was on Dirk’s lap transformed, and there was suddenly a girl sitting next to Dirk on his other side. 

“You want a baby?” Mona asked, her eyes positively lighting up with excitement at the prospect. Dirk turned to her with a wide smile.

“Do you want to be Auntie Mona?” he asked. She nodded vigorously, beginning to bounce up and down in her happiness. Suddenly there was a small whine from the floor. Dirk and Todd looked down to see Lucky there, his tail thumping on the ground. 

“You can tell we’re talking about something exciting, can’t you?” Todd asked the beagle, causing his tail to thump faster. “You wanna jump up here?” Todd moved away from Dirk a bit and patted the space between them on the couch. Immediately, Lucky jumped up to join them, choosing to snuggle his head into Dirk’s lap, his butt facing Todd. “You see, Dirk?” Todd said, petting the dog. “We take good enough care of this goofball here. I bet we could take care of a kid.”

“You may be right,” Dirk said with a giggle. As he looked at Todd and Lucky, then around to look at his beloved sister Mona, he thought he might just be the happiest person on Earth.

 

“So what’s up?” Amanda asked as she grabbed a beer out of Todd and Dirk’s fridge. The couple had called her and invited her over, saying they had something important to talk to her about. “Is this about a new case?” She came over to join them in the dining room, moving her chair out so she could put her feet up on the table.

“No,” said Dirk, nervously. “We actually have some important news.” He reached over to hold Todd’s hand and looked at him to continue. Amanda looked at him as well, curiously. Todd looked back at her and took a deep breath.

“We, uh, we want to have a baby.” 

Amanda’s jaw dropped down to the floor. She set her beer bottle on the table and took her feet off, planting them on the ground. 

“A baby?” she asked, her face splitting into a grin. “Oh my god, are you serious? You better not be lying to me again, Todd, or I’m going to fucking--”

“It’s true, Amanda,” Dirk said with a small smile. 

“Holy shit.” Amanda leaned back in her chair, her expression one of euphoric hilarity. “Mom and Dad are going to flip! Have you told them yet? Please tell me you haven’t told them, I so want to be there when you do.”

“You’re the first one we’ve told,” said Todd. “Besides Mona. She was there when we first had the conversation. She was a blanket.”

“Todd, this is…” Amanda got up and walked over to Todd, her arms outstretched. “This is the coolest thing ever. I’m proud of you.” 

Todd stood up and hugged her, a grin plastered on his face.

“Thanks, sis.”

“And Dirk--” Amanda pulled away from the hug and turned to Dirk. “Come here.” 

Dirk smiled and hopped up to hug her as well.

“This is awesome,” said Amanda. “I’m really happy for you.”

“Thank you, Amanda,” Dirk said, his heart soaring.

“Amanda, there’s something else we wanted to talk to you about,” said Todd, prompting Amanda to pull away from her hug with Dirk to look at him.

“Yeah? What’s up?”

“Well, we’ve been talking about like, how we’re going to have a baby, since obviously we can’t have one together physically,” explained Todd.

“And we would like it if the baby was still a Brotzman and a Gently,” said Dirk.

“So we were wondering… And please don’t like, hit me for suggesting this, or anything,” said Todd, nervously. “But we were wondering if you would consider like, surrogating for us? Maybe?”

Amanda blinked several times.

“You want me to, like, get pregnant?” she asked. Dirk and Todd both nodded. “With his--” She gestured to Dirk, who cleared his throat.

“Th-that’s the idea, yes. As a donor, obviously,” Dirk said, his cheeks tinted slightly red.

“Obviously,” repeated Todd.

“Obviously,” said Amanda, looking between them. There was silence for a few moments.

“So… will you do it?” asked Todd.

“I…” Amanda sat down in the nearest chair. “I don’t know, Todd… What if… What if I pass on our pararibulitis?” She looked up at him with a frown.

“That’s a risk with every Brotzman kid,” Todd said, sitting down in the chair next to her. “Our parents took that risk.”

“Yeah, and it sucked. It sucks,” Amanda said. Todd sighed. 

“Todd,” said Dirk, suddenly. Todd looked up to see Dirk with a worried frown on his face. “What if I pass on my… abilities?”

“I love your abilities, Dirk. They make you who you are,” Todd said.

“My abilities put me and everyone around me in danger, all the time.”

“Hey, I’ve kept you from dying, I’m sure as hell gonna keep our kid from dying,” Todd said, determinedly. Dirk smiled softly at him. Todd turned back to Amanda, who was sitting with her arms crossed, thinking. “Look,” he said. “There’s always a risk that a child is going to be born with some kind of disease. But I know Dirk and I are gonna take care of this kid no matter what, and make sure they’re as happy as they possibly can be.”

“Like you used to take care of me when Mom and Dad weren’t around?” Amanda asked, quietly.

“Yeah,” replied Todd with a soft smile. “And I’ll make sure they’re raised to be just as awesome and cool as I raised their Aunt Amanda to be.” She smiled back at him.

“And everybody has to be nice to me for nine months? Even you?”

“Especially me,” Todd said. “Otherwise you might just keep the kid for yourself.” He chuckled.

“I’m in,” Amanda said. Dirk and Todd’s eyes widened.

“Really?” asked Todd.

“Totally.” Amanda grinned at him.

 

Dirk and Todd saw a lot of Amanda during her pregnancy, as when she got too big and tired to be on the road with the Rowdies, she started staying with them at their house. This meant that the Rowdy’s van was parked right outside at all times, much to Dirk’s discomfort, but he couldn’t complain, not when Amanda was doing this enormous favor for them.

Dirk knew that the baby was going to be a girl right away, which narrowed down the name choosing by half. That didn’t stop the couple from arguing over what name to pick, though. They got input from all their friends, but that didn’t really help either. Amanda’s name choice was Lilith, and the Rowdies backed her up. Beast wanted to name the baby Pinecone, Mona wanted the name to be Button, and Tina wanted the baby’s name to be Tina. Farah’s suggestion of Ann had been their favorite so far, but they were thinking of that as more of a middle name than a first name. 

Dirk was mostly in charge of decorating the nursery, which he decided to paint a soft shade of yellow. Todd walked in on him one day late in the pregnancy, to find Dirk covered in paint, having painted the scenery of a bright summer’s day on one part of the wall. Todd smiled at all the little rainbows he had painted, commenting on how fitting it was. After all, the two of them were, as he put, “super gay.” This earned him a flick of paint in the face from Dirk, which then prompted a paint war. Thankfully, the carpet was completely covered in plastic, for the next thing they knew, the plastic was completely covered in multicolored paint.

 

One morning early April, Amanda started screaming. Todd ran downstairs to the kitchen, where he heard her voice, as fast as he could, to find her leaning against the counter, moaning in pain, tears in her eyes.

“Todd, Todd my water broke.”

“Wh-what? The baby isn’t due until late May!”

“Todd, look! Look at the water!” Amanda moaned in pain again as she gestured to the floor. Todd looked down and saw nothing, and understood. 

“Oh, oh shit, Amanda.” 

“What’s happening?” Dirk had entered the room, his face as white as a sheet, terrified that something terribly wrong was occuring. Amanda yelled in pain. 

“Todd, I need to go to the hospital!”

“She’s having an attack,” Todd explained to Dirk. “But my pills are upstairs--” He stopped talking as Dirk pulled a pill bottle out of his pyjama pocket. Dirk was just about to walk over to her to give her a pill when they heard a crashing sound behind them. They looked around to see the Rowdy 3 piling into the room, obviously having smelled Amanda’s distress. They more or less shoved Dirk out of the way so they could get to Amanda. 

“I’m not having an attack, I need to go to the hospital, my water broke” said Amanda with tears in her eyes.

“Amanda, there’s no water on the floor,” said Todd, sadly.

“Wh-what?” The Rowdy 3 started to feed on her, and her breathing got noticeably more steady. After they were done, she slowly straightened up from where she had been leaning on the counter. Martin held onto her to steady and comfort her, and she leaned into him instead.

“I didn’t know a pararibulitis attack could make you feel like you were going into labor,” Dirk said.

“Yeah, me either,” said Amanda solemnly, wiping the tears from her eyes. 

 

It was late April when Dirk shot up in bed in the middle of the night. 

“Todd! Todd, something is wrong!” he shouted, shaking. Todd sat up immediately. 

“What?” he asked, sleepily. Dirk got out of bed and sprinted to Amanda’s room, Todd hot on his heels. They barged in to find Amanda, curled up in bed, moaning in pain. “Amanda!” Todd rushed over to her.

“Todd, I think I’m in labor,” she said, her breathing heavy. Todd shook his head.

“No, I think you’re having another attack. The baby still isn’t due for like another month.”

“No, Todd,” Dirk said, shakily. “I think she’s really in labor. We have to get her to a hospital!”

“But-- it’s a month early!” said Todd, his eyes widening.

“I know,” said Dirk, with tears in his eyes.

 

Amanda was rushed into the hospital, where she was able to deliver the baby at around six in the morning. Before anyone could even hold the little girl, however, the baby was rushed into intensive care due to underdeveloped lungs. 

The week that followed was hard. Dirk, Todd, and Amanda were allowed to see the baby only occasionally while doctors worked on saving her life. They had been told that there was a good chance that she wouldn’t make it, and Dirk was trying so hard not to expect the worst. There was barely a night that the three of them didn’t stay at the hospital. The Rowdy 3 often came in to comfort Amanda, and Farah visited frequently as well. Hobbs and Tina got there on the second day to give their support, too. Mona was being constantly clutched in Dirk’s arms as a small stuffed animal giraffe that she had planned to be for the baby. 

Finally, after days, they were told that the baby was stable, and that she could go home the next day. Dirk collapsed, sobbing with relief in Todd’s arms at this news. As soon as he calmed down, Dirk, Todd, and Amanda went in to see the baby. The doctor handed her to Dirk and it was just about the happiest moment in his entire life. 

Dirk looked down at his daughter, and knew that he could never love anything as much as he loved this little girl. He looked up at Todd, and they shared a thought, similar to the thought they had shared all those months ago.

“Carlin?” Todd said, voicing the thought. It was a name that had been on their list, suggested by Hobbs. Dirk nodded, and looked back down at their daughter.

“Hello, Carlin,” he whispered to her. “My name is Dirk Gently, I’m a holistic detective, and… I’m your dad.” Todd went to put his arm around Dirk, smiling down at little Carlin. “This is Todd Gently, he’s absolutely wonderful. He’s your dad, too. There’s a whole lot of other people just waiting to meet you. I’m sure you’ll love them all, even the scary ones. And they’ll all love you, too. Because you’re perfect...” Dirk’s voice cracked as tears started running down his face. He looked back up at Todd. “She’s perfect…” 

Todd smiled.

“We’re perfect,” he said. “As a family.”


End file.
